Moving Forward (album)

Moving Forward is the second studio album released by Ivan Knight and the Imaginary Friends. It is a direct follow up to the previous self titled album, continuing the narrative and journey of the lead singer and protagonist "Frogg". This album is noted for being more focused on delayed guitars and electronic production as well as being the first Ivan Knight album to feature guest artists from Flex Entertainment. Every song from the album has been certified Gold by Flex Entertainment Certifications.

Backstory
The album had a very interesting production that caused the album to have a very different sound from it's predecessor. Ivan started the recording the album during the first Covid-19 Lockdown, and with the lack of instruments at his disposal, the album quickly went into an electronic synth pop sound. After they had finished the first album and this album was half finished, the lead singer Frogg died. It was this event that caused Ivan to start auditioning Flex artists to be the new lead singer. This is why the album has five guest features as they were all at one point auditioned for this spot. However, as Ivan and the other members came close to finishing the album, Frogg was revived by an ancient Aztec god known as Xayacatyl (the track named after him was the last edition to the album). Ivan and Frogg rerecorded all the vocals last minute and rearranged the track listing to fit a new concept that they were compelled by, the idea of getting better. After releasing the album, Frogg decided to leave the band. He decided that now he had a second chance to live life (a chance that no one gets), he would live every second of it. He is currently travelling the world. It has been rumoured that Ivan has already found a new lead singer for future albums, but he hasn't confirmed these rumours.

Tracklisting

 * 1) I Am One
 * 2) Defeated By Defeated
 * 3) Serious Eyes (feat. WT)
 * 4) Xayacatyl (feat. Lil Mosquito Disease)
 * 5) Sleep (feat. xofilo)
 * 6) Bats
 * 7) Power Plant Mind
 * 8) Samaritan (feat. Lil Pinecone)
 * 9) Princess Of The Moon
 * 10) Growing Up And Moving Forward (feat. Voda Wake)
 * 11) Like A Bird
 * 12) Happily Ever After

Reception
The album was released to almost widespread acclaim, with many members of the Flex Gang praising the album's production, guest artists and ambitious nature. Singles such as I Am One and Sleep were praised as being epic and hard hitting tracks. People were divided, however, over whether or not it was better than the first album. Some viewers, including Lil Squeaky and members of Ivan's Prog Band Metora Cliffs, considered it to be inferior to the first album (citing it as not being as experimental or as interesting as self titled). Brad Taste in Music initially scored the album a 90 on Albumoftheyear. Although he has lowered the score to an 84, he still considered it to be "Ivan's masterpiece".